(Clearwisdom.net) From October 25 to October 28, 2002, the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting was held in Los Cabos, Mexico. Leaders from twenty-one countries participated in the APEC meeting, and the city of Los Cabos was under heightened security for the duration of the event. Falun Gong practitioners from North America, Europe, Australia and Asia were the only group approved to appeal during this sensitive APEC meeting. While clearing away evil factors in other dimension with their pure righteous thoughts, Falun Gong practitioners seized this opportunity to clarify the truth of Falun Gong to the twenty-one heads of government and their delegations. During these four days, national leaders, high-ranking officials and attendees of the APEC meeting witnessed the practitioners' peaceful and upright appeal.
On October 27, Falun Gong practitioners staged a peaceful appeal at a prominent location along the main route between the Los Cabos Airport and the APEC meeting venue. Around 2 p.m., when the motorcade of the United States delegation was passing before the Falun Gong appeal area, President George W. Bush made a point to open his window and wave to greet practitioners. Many other APEC attendees gave the "V" sign to wish us success or honked their horns to show their support. The media widely and positively reported this activity.
Falun Gong practitioners overcame many difficulties to come to Mexico ahead of the APEC meeting, and with pure hearts were able to effectively clarify the truth to key Mexican officials. The mental outlook displayed by the practitioners moved the Mexican people and the police, and although Mexico had received a blacklist from China, they did not bar any practitioners from entering the country. After learning the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution, Mexico resisted the attempts by Jiang's regime to hinder our activities.
I was part of the group of practitioners who came to Mexico ahead of time to participate in Fa-rectification and truth-clarification. Here I would like to recount details of our Fa-rectification journey.
Effectively Clarifying the Truth to the Mexican People
As always, the Jiang regime tried to poison the government of Mexico ahead of Jiang's visit. Spreading lies and offering economic temptations, they attempt to sidestep attention and accountability for the gross offense of persecuting Falun Gong. It was reported that right before Jiang's visit to the United States in October, China signed trade agreements with the United States totaling as high as 4.7 billion dollars in the telecommunications and oil industries. The request that Jiang proposed to the United States was that Falun Gong practitioners should not be seen, and Jiang also slandered Falun Gong in the meantime.
Jiang's group made no exception for the kindhearted Mexican people. The Mexican government received the so-called "Materials about Falun Gong" package from the Chinese government, including the blacklist of practitioners' names, hoping to block them from entering the country. At first, under the deceiving lies and pressure, and without knowing the truth of Falun gong, some officials directly in charge of APEC were going to comply with the wishes of the Chinese government. As with other groups wishing to appeal, they planned to restrict Dafa practitioners' stay in Mexico by issuing visas that would force practitioners to leave the country before the national leaders arrived, or in the case of practitioners already in Mexico, they would extend visas for only one day before the meeting. Furthermore, they were not going to allow Falun Gong practitioners to display banners or to conduct any other appeal activities.
Under such urgent and serious circumstances, it was extremely important to clarify the truth effectively and specifically. As the principal officials for the APEC meeting were all in Mexico City, the practitioners who arrived early did not rush to Los Cabos immediately, but instead stayed in Mexico City to clarify the truth to key government officials there.
Many Spanish-speaking Dafa practitioners arrived ahead of time from other countries. They formed one body with the local Dafa practitioners in Mexico City, and in time introduced the truth of Falun Dafa to all levels of government in Mexico. The beauty of Falun Dafa, contrasting with the brutal and despicable means of Jiang's persecution of the innocent, as well as the great benevolence and forbearance displayed by Dafa practitioners, compelled the Mexican officials to finally give the green light to Dafa practitioners' entering Los Cabos. This laid the groundwork for allowing Dafa practitioners to peacefully appeal during the APEC meeting along that prominent stretch of road that would be taken by all the leaders attending the meeting.
"This is Mexico, Not China. You Will Not Have Any Problem."
In light of the fact that Jiang had provided the German and Icelandic governments with materials slandering Falun Gong and had exerted all kinds of pressure on them, it was extremely important to clarify the truth to key government officials in Mexico City ahead of time, so as to suppress the evil and reduce potential losses to Dafa.
As time was tight, we broke with the Mexican convention that one has to be referred for an appointment, and visited the Congress in person to clarify the truth directly. A high-ranking official in the security department listened to the truth about Falun Gong and our purpose for being in Mexico, and he studied the United States House Concurrent Resolution 188 [condemning the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and in America]. He said to us, "You visited on your own initiative to contact the Mexican government to explain the reason and purpose of your appeal in Mexico, and it indicates your good intention. It is obvious that the persecution against you by China is politically motivated. This is Mexico, not China. You won't have any problem. I will compile a report based on your visit and these situations we discussed." Afterwards, based on the facts that he had learned, this official submitted a report about Falun Gong to the person in charge of the security department for the APEC meeting in Mexico. This played a major role in making it possible for us to peacefully appeal during the APEC meeting.
A warmhearted Mexican couple helped us immediately, after learning the truth of Falun Gong and the persecution in China. On their own initiative, they introduced us to a Mexican government official and arranged for us to meet with a Congressman in the party in power. We introduced Falun Dafa to the Congressman, and told about the brutal persecution of Falun Dafa in China. We discussed our planned peaceful appeal at Los Cabos, and told him of our concern about Jiang's campaign of slandering Falun Gong to countries that he plans to visit. After learning the truth, the Congressman emphasized in the same way as did the government official, "This is Mexico, not China," and he warmly told us, "I will help you. I will go with you to protest in Los Cabos." He told us not to worry, and then he and his staff invited us to teach them the exercises and learned the first two exercises from us. To further help us, the Congressman asked us to prepare a detailed document about the persecution. In the week before the APEC meeting, he hosted a press conference in the Congress and appealed for the persecution to stop. The Mexican media covered it thoroughly. This congressman continues to work hard to encourage more members of congress to support Falun Gong.
Mexican Reporter: "I Will Broadcast the Program About the Persecution for Two Days Before the APEC Meeting."
In Mexico City, practitioners from Argentina and Canada worked together with local practitioners, and organized several press conferences, which were covered by the local media. MVS TV Station attended the press conference and interviewed the family members of practitioners being persecuted in China.
To overcome language barriers, the interviews with practitioners who spoke only Chinese were first translated into English, and then into Spanish by Mexican practitioners. Family members, as well as practitioners who are friends of persecuted practitioners in China, spoke to the reporters. They talked about how their families and their friends' families experienced positive changes after they started practicing Falun Dafa and how entire families benefited, becoming healthy and harmonious. Speaking from their hearts, they told the tragic story of their friend Peng Min, who was arrested for exercising his rights as a citizen and telling the government, "Falun Dafa is good." For this he was arrested and sent to a forced labor camp, where he was tortured to the point of paralysis. The labor camp refused to allow him to be treated, and instead called the Jiang regime's mouthpiece, CCTV, to shoot a television news story falsely saying that a Falun Gong practitioner wouldn't take medicine to treat his illnesses and became paralyzed. Peng Min finally passed away in pain, but the CCTV reported that he committed suicide. Later his mother was arrested and sent to a forced labor camp because she told people the real reason for her son's death. Several months later, she was beaten to death as well. The practitioners present at the interview wept upon relating this story. They told the reporter, "We come here to appeal because the chief criminal of the persecution of Falun Gong is coming here."
The reporter had not realized that right now, in the 21st century, there are dramas as horrible as this one being played out in China. He was deeply touched by the group of kind practitioners in front of him, and said, "I want to go to your practice site to shoot more videos clips and combine them with this one to make a 20-minute program to broadcast before the APEC meeting." After he recorded the Falun Dafa music, he came back and said, "We will broadcast this 20-minute program during prime time on both days before the APEC meeting -- we will try our best." This TV station followed us and continued to report on our story, including the appeal activities and the press conferences in Los Cabos.
(To be continued)
Category: News & Events